Recently, we’ve been focusing on commonly confused words, such as farther vs. further or imply vs. infer. Among often confused words are those that can said to be those with a “lost positive” or a “false negative,” such as disgruntled and inflammable. Disgruntled, like unkempt, discombobulate, and nondescript, is a part of a category of …
Lost positives and false negatives – disgruntled and inflammable Read More »
In the last few posts, we’ve been considering pairs of commonly confused words, such as alright vs. all right and anxious vs. eager. These pairs have been the cause of sometimes heated debate by language and usage experts. Other pairs, like farther and further, have their supporters, but the discussion is less acrimonious. As with …
How far the difference between farther vs. further? Read More »
Browsing through the book, Woe is I (1996) which we’ve referenced in this blog several times, I came across O’Conner’s use of the words eager and anxious. These words often appear on lists of words usually confused, though O’Conner was discussing them in relation to the misuse of infinitives. She includes anxious in a list …
Recently, I was reading a scene in a screenplay by one of my Writing Workshop participants when I encountered the word alright. My editor/English teacher mode kicked in automatically, and I started to mark it as a mistake in place of all right. Then I paused, remembering what we have discussed and touched on in …
Writers, especially beginning ones, often struggle with dialogue. There are many aspects to handling dialogue in your writing, including distinguishing between direct quotation and indirect quotation. Since direct quotations repeat a person’s remarks in their own words without deviation, they require quotation marks; for example: Mary said, “I am ready.” Indirect quotations, on the other …
Using like as a conjunction is ranked as #7 in a list on onlinecollege.org of the 20 most controversial rules in the grammar world. In Traditional grammar and usage, like is used as a preposition, while as is used as a conjunction. This particular English language controversy caused a different kind of uproar when Walter …
The choice between using different from versus different than is another one of those English language myths. Prescriptivists argue that different from is the only correct form that educated people would choose. Indeed, some discussion boards on this usage point reveal that some purists feel so strongly they cite the decline or dumbing down of …
Which is correct – different from or different than? Read More »
A recent Writing Workshop wanted to talk about voice in literature. They noticed that when participants shared their writing, they could “hear” the author’s voice more clearly than when they read the work on their own. In this Workshopping process, we share and discuss the work in a structured and consciously developed method, which involves …
Many English handbooks and teachers assert that it is wrong to use the passive voice when writing. This is another English language myth. The passive voice has its place in writing. First, it’s important to understand what is meant by the passive voice – though most of us have seen it in writing, if not …
Style guides have been mentioned in a number of posts on Writing Essentials by Ellen. For those who are not familiar with them these reference works – sometimes called style manuals, stylebooks, or documentation guides – contain editing and formatting standards. They are used by students, academics, researchers, journalists and other writers to put their …